A new hit sci-fi show based on a Stephen King novel has delivered the author’s darkest ending to date. While many adaptations of Stephen King’s work have bleak closing arcs, one story development from the new show’s final arc makes it immensely heartbreaking and hard-hitting.
When it comes to the endings of Stephen King adaptations, perhaps no show or movie is bleaker than The Mist. In its final moments, the movie gives audiences a dark sense of comfort by showing how its characters are choosing to die on their own terms before revealing a horrifying truth about their world.
EvenPet Sematary‘s ending is no less disturbing, as it walks through a grieving father’s descent into madness when he refuses to accept the death of his loved ones. A new Stephen King TV show features a similarly grim ending arc, which leaves viewers with a feeling of dread and hopelessness long after the credits start rolling.
The Institute Season 1’s Finale Is One Of Stephen King’s Bleakest Endings Ever
Pet Sematary and The Mist may have harrowing endings, but at least they give viewers an unsettling sense of closure. MGM+’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Institute does the opposite in its final moments by featuring a sequence where most of its young characters end up dead.
Before the show’s final credits start rolling, the youngest character, Avery, takes it upon himself to take down the organization that kidnapped and exploited many young telepathic and telekinetic kids for months. After asking the protagonist, Luke, to leave, he makes an ultimate sacrifice by using his telepathic connection with other children to tear down the facility that held them captive.
The Institute has already been renewed for season 2 on MGM+.
Avery’s sacrifice alone is heartbreaking because the show portrays him as the most innocent and likable character. However, what makes things worse is that his death seemingly goes to waste. The Institute season 1’s ending moments suggest that the looming organization at large still exists, and the destruction of just one facility will cause it no significant harm.
The Institute Season 1 Finale Changes Make Stephen King’s Book Ending Even Darker
Towards the end of Stephen King’s original book, one of the overarching villains, Mrs. Sigsby, comes face to face with the karma of her actions and ends up dead. After justifying the torture of young children in the name of serving a perceived greater good, Sigsby meets a fittingly grim doom when the facility’s guards accidentally kill her.
Unfortunately, in the show, she and the man who secretly pulls all the strings inside the facility end up surviving. Sigsby also gets her hands on a drive that contains evidence of the titular facility’s unethical and immoral practices, likely paving the way for her to commit even more heinous acts in The Institute season 2.
The original Stephen King book ends on a fairly well-rounded note where poetic justice is served to almost all wrongdoers. In MGM+’s The Institute, however, it seems like Luke and his friends barely scratch the surface of the larger machinery with their plan, leaving the main overarching antagonists untouched.
